Jackie McDonald

John "Jackie" McDonald (2 August 1947-) was an Ulster Defense Association brigadier who led the South Belfast Brigade during The Troubles.

Biography
Jackie McDonald was born in Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland on 2 August 1947 to a Protestant family, and he joined the Ulster Defense Association upon its 1972 formation. He became a dispatches manager for the Ulster unionist Balmoral Furniture Company, and Andy Tyrie made McDonald the new brigadier of the South Belfast Brigade after the assassination of John McMichael in 1988. McDonald was condemned due to his involvement with racketeering and extortion, and he was arrested in 1989 and sentenced to ten years in prison at Maze Prison for extortion, blackmail, and intimidation in 1990, leading to Alex Kerr taking over the brigade. In 1994, McDonald was released, and he returned to leading the brigade after Kerr defected to the Loyalist Volunteer Force. Along with Billy McFarland and John Gregg, McDonald disagreed with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, but he turned the group's violence away from the Irish republicans and instead towards rival loyalists such as Johnny Adair. McDonald forced Adair into exile after the 2003 murder of John Gregg, and he remained a key leader of the UDA Inner Council. He restored order to the organization, and he remained its top brigadier for years.